Surgery News and Research

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Healthcare-acquired infection costs $1 billion per annum

Infections caught in hospital are costing the Australian healthcare system more than 850,000 lost bed days, according to a new study by Queensland University of Technology.

3 Sep 2009

GDC-0449 inhibits the Hedgehog signaling pathway

The Hedgehog signaling pathway is involved in a preliminary study and case report describing positive responses to an experimental anticancer drug in a majority of people with advanced or metastatic basal cell skin cancers. One patient with the most common type of pediatric brain cancer, medulloblastoma, also showed tumor shrinkage.

3 Sep 2009

Research reveals that 21% of death claims are rejected by California's largest private insurers

More than one of every five requests for medical claims for insured patients, even when recommended by a patient's physician, are rejected by California's largest private insurers, amounting to very real death panels in practice daily in the nation's biggest state, according to data released today by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

3 Sep 2009

New therapy for advanced and metastatic basal cell skin cancer

A study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine reports a potential new investigational therapy for advanced and metastatic basal cell skin cancer tested at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare and other sites appears to demonstrate tumor shrinkage and limited side effects in patients.

3 Sep 2009

New method for treating hand disorder discovered

Researchers in the Department of Orthopaedics at Stony Brook University Medical Center have developed an injectable form of the enzyme, collagenase, that significantly improves outcomes of Dupuytren's contracture (or disease), a debilitating disorder caused by progressive accumulation of collagen that deforms fingers and limits motion. Reported in September 3, 2009, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, the study involved treatment of 308 patients with Duputren's disease in 16 sites nationwide. The results indicate that the injections are safe and effective.

3 Sep 2009

Innovative way for culturing liver cells improves drug toxicity screening

A team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers has developed an innovative way to culture liver cells for drug toxicity screening. In a report to be published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that has been released online, the investigators describe how liver cells grown in a high-oxygen environment and in a culture medium free of animal-derived serum quickly begin to function as they do within the liver.

2 Sep 2009

The CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System deployed at the CHUM

In operation since recently at the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), the CyberKnife(R) Robotic Radiosurgery System, is revolutionizing the treatment of both cancerous and non-cancerous tumors anywhere in the body. Used in radiation oncology, the CyberKnife System is the latest word in radiosurgery technology. Designed to destroy tumours using radiation beams, it is the first system of its kind to treat tumors non-invasively to be installed in Canada.

2 Sep 2009

Dr. Samadi of the Mount Sinai Medical Center stresses on prostate cancer awareness

September signifies the start of fall, back to school and back to homework. September is also National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. The awareness month was proclaimed by President Bush in 2003, and bolstered later that year by former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, a prostate cancer survivor, who became the spokesman for the National Prostate Cancer Coalition.

2 Sep 2009

Gene causing periodontitis, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis identified

Investigators at Hospital for Special Surgery, collaborating with researchers from other institutions, have contributed to the discovery that a gene called interferon regulator factor-8 (IRF-8) is involved in the development of diseases such as periodontitis (gum disease), rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis. The study, which will be published online August 30, ahead of print, in the journal Nature Medicine, could lead to new treatments in the future.

2 Sep 2009

LUNA surgical procedure did not alleviate chronic pelvic pain in women

A surgical procedure known as LUNA (laparoscopic uterosacral nerve ablation) did not result in improvements in chronic pelvic pain, painful menstruation, painful sexual intercourse or quality of life when compared with laparoscopic surgery that does not interrupt pelvic nerve connections, according to a study in the September 2 issue of JAMA.

2 Sep 2009

St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital uses CyberKnife robotic radiosurgery system for treating tumours

St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital is the first hospital in Houston to feature the CyberKnife((R)), a noninvasive alternative to surgery for the treatment of both cancerous and non-cancerous tumors.

2 Sep 2009

ACTICOAT Flex 3 and ACTICOAT Flex 7 launched in Europe

Smith & Nephew's (NYSE: SNN) (LSE: SN) Advanced Wound Management division, announce the European launch of ACTICOAT™ Flex 3 and ACTICOAT™ Flex 7, to expand the ACTICOAT portfolio. The Flex range provides enhanced conformability to better address patient comfort and in utilizing the Silcryst™ nanocrystalline silver technology, ACTICOAT Flex products have been designed to support physicians dealing with soft tissue injuries at high risk of infection.

2 Sep 2009

CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System provides pain-free, non-surgical option for patients with tumours

The Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), invites media representatives to discover the first autonomous robotic radiosurgery device installed in Canada, the CyberKnife(R) Robotic Radiosurgery System. This device provides a pain-free, non-surgical option for patients who have inoperable or surgically complex tumors, or who may be looking for an alternative to surgery.

2 Sep 2009

Grossman Burn Center will be relocating to West Hills Hospital & Medical Center in 2010

Grossman Burn Center, one of the nation's leading burn care facilities, will be relocating from Sherman Oaks Hospital to West Hills Hospital & Medical Center in the first quarter of 2010. The joint announcement was made on Monday, August 31, 2009.

2 Sep 2009

Medical travel is a cost-effective option for employers

In the quagmire of health care reform, with challenges to ensure quality, align costs with outcomes, and build incentives for consumers to shop for services, medical travel emerges as a solution that benefits employers, individuals and the U.S. health care system. BridgeHealth Medical, Inc. (www.BridgeHealthMedical.com), the nation’s premier provider of medical travel services, points to the expanded scope of domestic and international Centers of Excellence as the most compelling opportunities for accessing high quality care at lower cost, particularly for the under- or uninsured who need surgery.

2 Sep 2009

Patient perception of physician disclosure key to gaining trust

When reporting medical errors, patients' perceptions of their physicians' disclosure may be key to gaining their trust, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. However, a positive perception of the disclosure has little effect on the lawsuit risk a physician faces.

2 Sep 2009

Study reveals that antibiotics used to treat a variety of bacterial infections could cause double vision

Highlights of September's Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (Academy), include a 2009 review by the Academy of the safety and efficacy of a widely used corneal transplant procedure and a warning about an unusual but serious reaction to systemic fluoroquinolones, a class of antibiotics used to treat a variety of bacterial infections.

2 Sep 2009

New ARRA-funded research on white blood cell functioning

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has provided funding for new research to learn more about how white blood cells work. Jonathan Reichner, PhD, of the department of surgery at Rhode Island Hospital has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health with funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Reichner's hope is that the research will lead to new immune-enhancing therapies, with potential implications for improvements in both cancer treatment and controlling inflammation accompanying injury and infection.

2 Sep 2009

$Prolonged surgery should be avoided in trauma patients with multiple fractures$

Prolonged surgery should be avoided in trauma patients with multiple fractures

Trauma patients who sustain multiple fractures are often in serious condition when they arrive at the emergency department. A review article published in the September 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS) explains that trauma patients who have several orthopaedic injuries and are considered to be in unstable condition should only have a few hours of surgery when first arriving at the hospital. This principle is known as 'damage control'.

2 Sep 2009

Research reveals that dramatic maternal weight loss prevents obesity in their children

Adolescent and young children of obese mothers who underwent weight-loss surgery prior to pregnancy have been found to have a lower prevalence of obesity and significantly improved cardio-metabolic markers when compared to siblings born before the same obese mothers had weight-loss surgery. This new study has been accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

2 Sep 2009